Encouraging environmental impact data through the CDP non-disclosure campaign

Castlefield participated in the CDP non-disclosure campaign for the third consecutive year, encouraging six companies to disclose their environmental impact data.

For the third year running we participated in CDP’s non-disclosure campaign, which seeks to encourage companies to disclose their climate, water and forestry risks by completing their TCFD aligned questionnaires. In 2023, nearly 6,000 companies disclosed environmental impact data to CDP, a 15% increase year on year. The 2024 iteration of the campaign sees some change as the questionnaires will be fully aligned with the ISSB climate standard. Separately, as
part of the 2024 updates, dedicated questionnaires will be launched for small and medium sized enterprises.

Due to the success of previous campaigns in getting our investee companies to disclose their environmental impact data, the pool of companies we could approach in the 2023 campaign was reduced. In 2023, we approached six investee companies across the fund range, with two companies disclosing as a direct result of these engagements (33% response rate). We engaged with four of the six companies on the topic of climate change and the remaining two on water, with one response received in each category.

This year, we saw an increased focus on property during the campaign, with half of the companies we approached classified as Real Estate Investment Trusts which directly own property assets.

This year, we saw an increased focus on property during the campaign, with half of the companies we approached classified as Real Estate Investment Trusts which directly own property assets. Both asset owners and developers are increasingly expected to provide data on underlying energy usage and take into account the environmental cost of embedded emissions. During our engagements, the vast number of sustainability-related questionnaires was flagged as a capacity constraint for the companies required to disclose.

The roll out of ISSB, with which the 2024 CDP questionnaires will be aligned, is seen as a positive in terms of streamlining the disclosure process for firms, who are increasingly expected to provide additional data each year.

Written by Barney Timson